


The Flaw in the Best Laid Plan

by Ludo13



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Alternate - Freeform, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, F/M, Family, Mystery, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-23
Updated: 2016-01-06
Packaged: 2017-12-24 09:41:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/938453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ludo13/pseuds/Ludo13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Alice, what do you mean when you say I'm already married?" "I meant just that, Edward. You can't get married because you're married, and since 1926. But it all doesn't make sense." "Then, apart from the fact that I've been married without my knowledge, what else doesn't make sense?" "Your wife was born in 1979." "What the f…?" "That's exactly what I thought when I read that line."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hearing the News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Disclaimer:** All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of Stephenie Meyer and JK Rowling. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
> 
> Beta'd by **Fmfg** and **Thir13enth** of the **Project Team Beta**.

 

**Hearing the News**

He could not have heard his sister right. It was ridiculous to believe he'd heard those words coming from Alice's mouth. He turned his eyes to his family who were watching him in various states of shock. It was as though he'd grown a second head or something of the sort. "Even though I couldn't believe it, there was no way Alice could be wrong," he thought to himself. The super-hearing and all that jazz meant that the vampires would forever have the advantage of hearing very low noises even whispers being exchanged at a long distance. Maybe, he'd simply misheard Alice.

"I am sorry, Alice, but can you repeat what you've just said? I think I might have heard you say something else," Edward said tentatively hoping somewhat futilely, and he knew it already, that he'd been mistaken and that Alice meant something else.

Alice gave him a long look as though she understood what he was trying to do. He already read the words forming in her mind before she repeated those aloud again and deliberately pronounced each word to him. "I. Said. You. Are. Already. Married. Edward!"

This was even worse than his worst fears. "Alice, what do you mean when you say that I'm already married?" he again asked.

"Are you really being dense on purpose, Edward?" Alice exclaimed. "I meant just that, Edward. You can't get married to Bella Swan because you're already married to a Hermione Jean Granger or Cullen if you want this to be precise and official."

"Alice," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "There must be a mistake because I've never heard of this girl ever before."

"Well, I thought that there might be actually because the marriage certificate I've found states that you got married on the twenty-first of December of 1926 in London but from what I was able to find on this Hermione Granger, it all doesn't make sense," Alice remarked with a frown.

"I could have told you that, Alice. I am not married and have never been married before," Edward said with frustration evident in his tone of voice as well as an unhealthy dose of sarcasm.

"That's not it, Edward," Alice responded. "And, don't you take that tone with me."

"Then, apart from the fact that I've been married without my knowledge, what else doesn't make sense to you, the immensely talented, Alice Cullen?" Edward sarcastically added. He could not help himself because it just did not make sense.

"Your wife was apparently born in 1979," Alice simply shared.

"What the fuck?" Edward replied, ignoring Esme's automatic chastising.

"That's exactly what I thought when I read that line," Alice remarked. "The information I've gathered from your wedding certificate says that you were married on the twenty-first of December of 1926 and that your wife, Hermione Granger, was born on the nineteenth September of 1979." Alice declared.

"Are you even listening to yourself, Alice? That is plainly impossible!" Edward retorted.

"I know this is impossible for vampires," Emmett began cautiously while looking at Alice, "but have you been smoking pot, Alice?"

"It is not the time for your remarks, Emmett!" Carlisle intervened before Alice and Emmett embarked on a bickering war. "Let's try to make sense of this current nonsense." He turned sharply to Alice before the pixie-like vampire argued.

"Can all this drivel really have a meaning at all?"" Edward questioned. "Let's see if I've got everything right? I was born in 1901, died in 1918, and got myself married to a complete stranger—who was born in 1979—in 1926. Did I miss anything?" Edward queried as he looked at Alice.

"Well, when you put it like that, it really doesn't make any sense!" Alice agreed.

Edward snorted in response. "That's the understatement of the century!"

"Let's just think about this clearly first and we'll get to that later. Are you okay with this option?" Carlisle asked.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Emmett exclaimed. Once everyone had turned to him, he looked to Alice before saying, "So, Alice, you're just telling us that our dear brother Edward." He smirked in Edward's direction before continuing, "has been married for over eighty years and we did not know any of this before?"

"Well, yes, Emmett that is exactly what I've been trying to make our thick-headed brother understand for the last few hours," Alice snipped in frustration at being interrupted again.

"Wow, this must be a record! You've been married for eighty years and you're still a virgin!" Emmett proclaimed with a wild grin before he let out a booming laugh.

"Let us get back to the subject in question," Jasper interjected wisely diffusing a calming atmosphere in the otherwise tense living room of the Cullen household.

"Yes, Jasper is right," Carlisle added. "So, Alice? Can you tell us how you made this discovery about Edward's past?" the blond vampire asked.

"Well, ever since I saw in my visions that Bella would one day be one of us, I have been making plans on the wedding that I knew would be happening soon," Alice informed us. "I was thinking about the cottage that Esme has been designing for Bella and Edward's use after their wedding and that's when I had a vision of us having this conversation."

"You mean to say that you did not see more of that girl that's supposed to be Edward's wife?" Carlisle questioned.

"No," Alice answered truthfully, her distress evident in her tone. "I only saw us discussing this with Edward."

Edward was able to see the vision of the same discussion in Alice's mind unfold just as it occurred a few minutes prior.

"But you also said that you were able to get your hands on his wedding certificate and information on the Hermione Granger in question," Jasper reminded.

"Yes, I did. After I had the vision of this confrontation with you, Edward, I went about in search of more information on what I've seen and heard from the vision, and that is how I found this." Alice produced an official document from a manila folder that she left on the table. "It's all in there as you can see," she handed Edward the document.

Edward read the document still in disbelief of everything he'd heard and seen since the beginning of this apparent farce. However, as his eyes scanned the aged and yellowed authentic document, he wasn't able to find anything to challenge his pixie vampire sister. The veracity of everything stood out on the document in his hand.  
  
  
 _1926 – Marriage solemnized at the Register Office in the district of Oxford in the country of Oxfordshire_

_No. – 7_

_When Married. – December 21, 1926_

_Name and Surname. – Edward Anthony Masen, Jr. and Hermione Jean Granger_

_Age. – 25 and 27_

_Condition. – Bachelor and Spinster_

_Rank or Profession. – Engineer and Doctor_

_Residence at the time of Marriage. – Chicago, Illinois, United States of America and London, England, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland_

_Father's Name and Surname – Edward Masen, Sr. and Richard Granger_

_Rank or Profession of Father. – Lawyer and Doctor_   
  
  


"This can't be real," Edward refuted the evidence that lay there on the paper in his hand. There was even his name and signature along those of his 'wife' at the bottom of the certificate with the names of witnesses of the wedding, names he'd never known or seen before.

"It is very much real, Edward. It is also official. I checked it with the Register Office in the UK and they confirmed that it was an authentic document. There's no forgery whatsoever involved in this document." Alice informed. "In addition, it is your signature down there, isn't it?" Alice added.

"Yes, it is. Nevertheless, Alice, don't you think I'd be the first to know whether I would have signed such a document in the past. I wasn't even in London that year. This is crazy." Edward argued.

"Yet, whatever your point may be, this document still is authentic," Alice confirmed tapping the document in Edward's hands.

He spotted a flaw in the certificate in his hand and announced triumphantly, "Alice, officially I'm Edward Cullen and this document was delivered with the name Edward Anthony Masen, Jr., who has officially died. This doesn't apply to me!" He could not help but grin at his victory but his smile faded when he saw the glum look on Alice's usually cheery face.

"I already thought of that, Edward." Alice informed him. "But even when I thought of that, the vision of your wedding to Hermione Granger did not change and I don't understand why."

"Well, that's easy to answer," Rosalie quipped.

"Yeah, and why is it, Rosie?" Emmett asked.

"Because whether it is with the name Edward Anthony Masen, Jr. or Edward Cullen, the person wedded is still the same and it is you, Edward. It's all for the solemnity of the act," Rosalie said.

"But it is still a wedding held in 1926 and I'm pretty sure that the phrasing 'Til' Death do us part' in the vows does not apply to me," Edward replied.

"And that is where you are wrong, Edward," Jasper informed him as his blond brother examined the certificate that he'd picked up on the table.

"Yeah and how do you figure that one out, Jasper?" Edward questioned the logic of his empath brother.

"Because I believe magic is involved in this certificate and if my suspicions are correct, you are very much married to the Hermione Granger, here. Either it will only be when she dies or that you are executed that this certificate will be terminated," Jasper told them as he passed the certificate to Carlisle.

"Why do you believe that magic is involved in this?" Carlisle asked surprised. With his long existence as a vampire, Carlisle of course knew of the hidden world of wizards and witches but he'd never actually met one.

He might be wrong but if what Jasper was suggesting was true, Edward was afraid that his name had been used in a magically binding contract and he was currently married to a witch. "Why is life never simple?" Edward asked no one in particular followed by a loud sigh.

"That because it isn't, Edward," Carlisle answered as he also read the certificate.

"Anyway, to answer Edward's question, it is simple to check if this…" Jasper said as he pointed to the document in Carlisle's hand, "… is a magical contract."

"How do you do it, Jazz?" Emmett asked.

"Try as we might, in every way possible, we will never be able to destroy it," Jasper replied.

They did try and true to Jasper's words, the wedding certificate was indestructible. They tried tearing it apart, cutting it, burning it, and all other creative ways that they imagined. The document was still as pristine as ever.

"Okay, now we at least know something else about your situation. We can establish without any reasonable doubt that you are married to a witch; a powerful witch, who can apparently time-travel," Carlisle concluded genuinely puzzled and yet, very curious.

"But why go all the way to 1926 to get married to someone who was already dead? I don't know for sure but I do believe that necrophilia had never been allowed in history." Edward asked.

"That's easy, Edward," Alice said, "because, technically, at that time, in 1926, you had not yet been pronounced dead. You must remember that your body was never found since Carlisle took you away from the makeshift hospital where he found you in 1918. Even though, people knew that you were infected with the Spanish Flu, you were probably placed on the missing list. Thus, you would have only been officially been pronounced dead by 1927 and that may be how, your name was chosen. You disappeared on the nineteenth of September of 1918 and Hermione Granger was born on the same day but in 1979. That might be the link that has had her interest herself in your story."

"As crazy as this is, it oddly makes sense. However, I still don't understand why then would this Hermione Granger go back in the past to 1926. What's so special about that year?" Carlisle questioned.

"I think I know the answer to that but I still wonder why she did that actually." Alice said.

"Well, don't keep us waiting Alice. We are waiting for the next episode of Edward's chaotic love life." Emmett asked.

Alice smiled before answering. "As you've seen on the certificate, Edward and Hermione Granger were married on the twenty-first of December of 1926." The whole family nodded at that. They had already established that it was very real.

"On the third of January of 1927, the new Hermione Masen went to Wool's Orphanage in London and adopted a baby that was born on New Year's Eve. Edward and Hermione Masen are the proud parents of a Tom Marvolo Riddle, or Masen if you prefer, who was born on the thirty-first of 1926." Alice produced another document from the manila folder and thrust it into Edward's hands. "Congratulations, Edward. You are now the proud father of a young baby boy."

"A baby?" Rosalie and Esme asked at the same time. They rushed to Edward's side and read over his shoulders the adoption papers. His signature stood proudly next to his now confirmed wife, Hermione.

"This is crazy!" Edward announced as he dropped the papers, which were easily caught by Rosalie. "This is just crazy."

"Yet, I think it is only the beginning. You want to know something even crazier than what we've seen and read today," Emmett asked.

"Please, do tell. I'll go see if I can't go hang myself somewhere after that." Edward proclaimed solemnly.

"Edward! This is no laughing matter!" Esme chastised.

"Yet, why do things like these only happen to me?" He answered.

"Bad karma, maybe?" Jasper supplied with a smirk.

"Never mind that now. Do you want to know what is crazier or not?" Emmett said as he stared out the window that overlooked the backyard of the Cullen House.

He raised an eyebrow in Emmett's direction indicating the later that he was giving him his full attention, the large vampire only grinned at him. "You know that cozy little cottage that Esme has been planning for Bella and you?" Edward nodded in answer to his brother's odd question. He'd seen the very detailed blueprints already. "Well, it is currently standing behind the house fully built."

He rushed to the window to see this new undesired episode of his 'marvelous and amazing' married life. As incredible as it sounded, it was true. He'd seen the blueprints of the cottage when Esme had been drawing them and it was even more beautiful in real. Esme had outdone herself again.

The cottage stood out proudly in their backyard surrounded on three sides by the thick forest. A cobblestone path led from the main house to the cottage. It had an inclined tiled roof with white-painted wooden windows and doors. It was very homely with something like an English garden that stood in front of the entry porch.

As the family was gazing at the mysterious apparition of a fully built cottage in their backyard, as well as the carefully laid cobblestoned path that connected the cottage to the main house, a light flickered on in one of the upper rooms. They all watched as a shadow passed in front of the window.

"This is it, Tom. This is your new house." They heard a cultured female voice with a thick British accent say.

"It's her!" Emmett exclaimed.

"Yeah and how do you figure that out?" Rosalie remarked.

"Edward, you need to go meet her." Alice said.

"You know, I already thought of that. But, how will I start the conversation?" Edward asked.

"Just talk, it will be a start." Esme supplied.

"Yeah! Do you think that something like 'Hello Hermione, I'm Edward. Your husband' will do the trick? I don't think that's enough after everything we've discovered." Edward said.

"It's a start. Now go, Edward." Alice urged.

Edward sighed but followed his family's instructions as he slowly exited his house through the back-door. He followed the cobblestone path and soon found himself standing in front of the cottage's door.

Before he pushed open the door, he was able to hear Emmett's loud thought, "You never know, Edward. You might get lucky and finally get some."

He sighed again before he opened the unlocked door and made his way silently to the upper floor. He could clearly hear shuffling feet in the furthest room and quietly made his way there. The door was slightly ajar and he was only able to see the back of the young woman, his wife. She was rocking what he knew was a baby, his newly adopted son, Tom.

As he did not want to disturb her, he silently walked away and walked back to the first door he saw on this floor. As expected, it was the master bedroom. What he did not expect to find however was the large moving portrait of his 'wedding' hanging above the queen sized-bed. It was shot or painted, he did not really know, in front of Stonehenge in England.

This was strange, because as far as he knew the wedding certificate had showed that it had only been a civil wedding and there in the portrait he was embracing a young woman with honey brown curls. She had a pretty face—he'd give her that—with a small splattering of freckles on the bridge of her nose. She wore a beautiful white dress but he would be unable to describe it. He'd leave that to Alice.

However, her eyes captivated him. She had deepest chocolate brown eyes he'd ever seen and even if this was only a portrait, Edward could easily see that her eyes shone with bright intelligence and something akin to determination. He could thus conclude that Hermione, his newly found wife, was a strong, determined young woman and even though, he loathed himself to admit it, Edward still felt pride surge in him at this knowledge.

All further exploration of the house was forgotten when he heard a door closing in the corridor and the soft barefoot thud of his 'wife' walking slowly to the bedroom where he was. He sat down on the edge of the bed facing the door and waited. He heard Hermione stop in front of the door and saying softly to herself, "I'll do some damage control tomorrow and assess how much has changed in this timeline but right now, I think a good night's sleep is all I need."

The door opened and Edward first impression of Hermione was proven right. Her brown eyes shone with intelligence and her honey-brown hair fell in riotous curls around her head and on her shoulders. It was cute.

She froze when she lifted her eyes and saw him sitting there waiting for her. Her hand flew to the right pocket of her grey pants but before she found what she was looking for, Edward decided that it was as good a time to introduce himself.

"Hello Hermione, I'm Edward Cullen. Your husband." It was as lame to Edward's ears as he'd believed.

Hermione's hand stilled as she heard his words. Her head tilted to the right as she appraised him.

"I think I'm more tired that I've believed because I'm seeing things that shouldn't exist," she said in a tired voice.

"Huh, that went well!" He heard Emmett remark from the main house. His family had of course been listening in.

"Yes, it definitely went well," Edward thought as he stared at Hermione who was also staring at him in disbelief.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A spin of mine of the classic time-travel plot. Originally, this was supposed to be a Cedric/Hermione piece but I've kept thinking that it could make something even more interesting and funny with an Edward/Hermione plot. 
> 
> Depending on the response, I'll be continuing this story or change it back to the original plot of a Cedric/Hermione that was planned. So, do not hesitate to give your feedback on this little piece, I'll be waiting eagerly for that. Constructive criticism is of course most welcome.
> 
> As always, thanks and take care,
> 
> **Ludo**


	2. Acquiring The Ring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Disclaimer:** All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of Stephenie Meyer and JK Rowling. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
> 
> Beta'd by **GetDrunkOnVictory** and **Jcat5507** of the **Project Team Beta**.

 

 

**Acquiring The Ring**

 

 

 

An innocent Muggle auction held eight months earlier was the event that set everything in motion. She had dragged a reluctant Harry, Ron was, of course, a big no-no for that kind of event, to the auction of some historic memorabilia of famous and non-famous people from the start of the twentieth century. She only intended to buy, or at least bid for, an object that would catch her fancy.

Nothing really stood out as the sale went slowly, and Harry was snoring next to her as she watched, one by one, the articles on sale finding buyers. She still hadn't found anything that really stood out to her. It was then, as she read the pamphlet detailing the items auctioned, that she found on one corner of a page, something that actually caught her eye.

It was a ring. It was nothing extravagant; it had a pear-shaped, white diamond that was laid squarely on the centre of the gold ring, flanked by smaller, round-cut diamonds. The pamphlet said it was from the Masen Estate, Chicago, 1918. There was no more available information concerning the origin of the ring, but Hermione found that the elegance of the ring had a simple charm. This was what she had wanted to find. She shouldered Harry to wake him up, and her best friend woke up with a start. She showed him the page as she eagerly awaited for the start of the auction for the ring.

"What are you going to do with Charlie Chaplin's cane, Hermione?" Harry asked her, perplexed.

"Not the cane, Harry. The ring, you dolt," she whispered, pointing at the corner of the page.

"Oh, OK. Still, what are you going to do with the Masen's ring, Hermione?" Harry reworded his question as he looked, still perplexed, at the ring on the page.

"I like it, and so, I'll be wearing it, Harry," Hermione simply told her best friend.

"Who the hell are those Masens, anyway?" Harry asked again.

"I don't know who those Masens are, but I can –"

"Still do some research about it," Harry completed. Hermione glared at the cheeky expression of her best friend. He knew her really well.

Her attention was brought back into the auction as the object of her desire was brought forward. The close-up on the large screen that stood behind the stage showed the ring in more detail. As she'd seen from the picture on the pamphlet, the ring was simple in its elegance, but the close-up of the camera also showed that there were words engraved on the inside of the ring.  _Eternally yours_ , it read. It was perfect.

"So, why am I here, again?" Harry asked as the auction started at five thousand pounds. "Isn't that a bit high for something so unimpressive?" Harry added as Hermione raised her pad.

"You're here because I wanted to spend some time with one of my best friends, as our clashing schedules don't allow much free time to be shared between us." It was true that Harry's work as an Auror and hers as a mind Healer took a lot of their time. "Plus, since you're here, you can participate in the auction, and if this goes too high for my budget, you'll be able to continue and buy your best friend something that she wants." Hermione added with a smile before raising her pad again.

They were already at forty thousand pounds, and Hermione was starting to feel desperate as she watched the auctioneer continue raising the price as another bidder waved his pad. It was already too much for her, but she now wanted the ring desperately. It was a matter of pride for her.

"One hundred thousand pounds," a strong voice on her left said with authority while gasps echoed round the room, hearing the new bid. Hermione turned to see that is was Harry who had made the bid but the latter was not looking at the auctioneer but he was smiling at her.

"One hundred thousand pounds?" The auctioneer, Mr. Bore, a portly bald man with a walrus moustache, asked for confirmation, to which Harry nodded.

"So, one hundred, one time." The large Mr. Bore was sweating profusely as he regarded the crowded hall waiting.

"One hundred thousand, two times." He waited again, but no bids came.

"One hundred thousand, three times." He said with finality. "And, the sale of the 'Masen Estate, Chicago, 1918' ring goes to the bidder number seventy for one hundred thousand pounds."

"Harry! You didn't have to spend so much on something so trivial for me. What is Ginny going to say?" Hermione hissed at him as they stood up and followed an attendant who led them to an office.

"Hermione, Hermione, Hermione!" Harry chastised, shaking his head as he smiled at her. "What kind of best friend would I be if I didn't buy the one thing that managed to catch said best friend's eye at this god-awful event?"

"You know I love you, right, Harry?" Hermione said as she looked at him with fondness.

"Don't let the Prophet hear you say this. Moreover, I was rather fed up with being here and wanted to tail out of here as soon as possible, and if this ring can bring about this opportunity, I thought I might as well take it. So, it's really no big deal." Harry modestly downplayed his decision as they sat and waited for the attendant to return with the ring.

"What would I do without you, Harry Potter?" Hermione asked.

"Hmm," Harry faked thought, "what would happen to Hermione Granger if she didn't have me in her life? I guess that you would have led a very boring life. With me in it, you're always one step away from trouble," Harry ominously told her.  _Famous last words those were_.

Once Hermione had the ring on her hand, she was charmed by the simplicity of it. There were the words that were elegantly carved on the inside of the ring. That had not been mentioned either in the brochure nor by the auctioneer when he introduced the object for the auction. Only on the screen.

_Eternally yours._  That was what had been carved on the inside of the ring. Hermione marvelled at the simplicity and the elegance of the script. She nervously put the ring onto her ring finger, and it had fit her perfectly, as if it had been made for her.

"Can we go now?" Harry asked, breaking her from admiring the ring on her finger.

"Just a minute, Harry." Hermione said as he petulantly grumbled. "Can you tell me more on the history of this ring, please?" Hermione asked the portly Mr. Bore who'd taken a pause from the auction and had joined them in the office. The attendees had naturally rushed to the open buffet for refreshments.

"First off, I must offer my congratulations for this marvellous piece of history." He shook both Harry and her hand with his pudgy, sweaty hand. "Secondly, I'm sorry to tell you that there isn't much information that we've been able to gather concerning the origin of your beautiful purchase of today. Only, that it's from Chicago from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century and that it belonged to a family named the Masen's. That's just everything we've had."

"Great, Hermione. You have a new pet project." Harry said. "Can we go now?" He asked again.

"In a moment, Harry," she said in exasperation. Harry folded his arms and grumbled some more. "You don't have anything more?" Hermione asked the auctioneer again.

When the latter shook his head in the negative, Hermione sighed before she stood up. Seeing that, Harry cheered and followed suit quickly. He stretched languidly to rid himself of the last traces of sluggishness and watched her expectantly.

"You shouldn't go so quickly," Mr. Bore said. "We've got a few interesting objects of historical value coming up after the pause."

"We're so sorry but we've got a lot—er. We've got a lot of road ahead of us, and it's getting rather late." It was only three in the afternoon, but Harry was getting desperate. "Yeah, that's it. We better head out soon before the traffic, you know?" Harry finished in a flurry.

"It was a pleasure, Mr. Bore," Hermione said as she shook the portly man's clammy hand, barely repressing her shiver of disgust. Harry wisely just nodded at the man before opening the door and motioning Hermione to get a move on.

It was only when they were out of the auction house that Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Merlin for that. I feared you wanted to sit back for the second session." Harry told her.

"I contemplated that option for a few seconds," Harry's eyes widened in shock, "but I reckoned I owed it to you after what you've done today for me."

"Don't mention it. It's really no big deal," Harry modestly answered. "But, if in the future, for whatever reasons you happen to have, you wish to again attend another auction, please bring Ron. I've never been this bored by anything since old Binns' classes."

"You're just being difficult, Harry. It's not as if your job as an Auror is very fulfilling right now," Hermione quipped. "I think I'm gonna tell Robards to put you on some desk job, maybe do some filling for the next few weeks," Hermione said seriously, but burst out laughing when she saw the fear in Harry's face. In a very Hermione-ish finale to the day, Hermione enveloped Harry in a bone-crushing hug. "Thank you, Harry. I love you, you know." Hermione muttered.

"It's no big deal, Hermione." Harry said awkwardly, voice muffled, as he was still held in Hermione's arms. When the latter let go, his hands automatically went through his trademark unruly hair. "We really need to head home. Ginny's been a real nightmare these last weeks." Harry shared as they made their way to a side alley.

"She's bound to be, Harry," Hermione remarked. "It's the final month of her second pregnancy. You are lucky that she can't hear you now, or you'd be hexed silly until the baby's birth."

"Don't I know that?" Harry replied knowingly. "Anyway, never mind that. Take care of yourself, Hermione." Harry said as they reached a safe spot to Apparate away.

"Will do. And thanks again Harry for coming today with me and everything." Hermione added looking at her best friend in earnest and in gratitude.

"You know you just have to ask and I'll be there," Harry said. "Anytime, Hermione." Harry added before he turned on the spot and Dissaparated with a crack.

Hermione checked one last time around before she followed suit and Dissaparated.

Just as Harry had predicted, Hermione had found a new pet project. She wanted to know the origin and history of the ring. It tore at her not knowing more on the beautiful piece of jewelry that she now wore every day. Therefore, she naturally researched all information that she'd been provided by Mr. Bore. It was not much, but she was still thrilled by the challenge that it presented.

In a move that shocked the Wizarding World, Hermione announced that she would be taking a long-deserved vacation from her top-position job as the Head Mediwizard of the Spell Damage Department. Harry, of course, knew the reason behind why she was taking a vacation, but he wisely chose not to comment. She had always hated it when she did not know anything, and she hated it even more when people chose to remind that to her. Hermione had decided that after not finding any new information on the object that had been torturing her for the past weeks, that she had to go to the source of it.

_Chicago_.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

It was delightful what one was able to do with a little bit of magic. With the infinitesimal information that she had prior to going to the States, she was able to find more information on the Masens and their tragic story, in as little as a few days. Moreover, she owed the technique to Rita Skeeter for the very knowledgeable information that she had managed to gather.

Elizabeth and Edward Masen Sr. had been married in 1900, on the first of June, and almost exactly a year later, on the twentieth of June 1901, they had a son. He was named Edward Anthony Masen Jr., after his father. Edward Masen Sr. was a very successful and respected lawyer in Chicago of the early twentieth century. Despite having a successful career and living in the upscale district found near the Midway Plaisance and the University of Chicago, he was moderately rich.

Hermione was able to learn from the city's oldest resident, a super-centenarian, Mrs. Grey, who lived in the same neighbourhood as the Masens as a child, that the father was emotionally distant from his son. His wife devoted all her time to her family and provided her son with the love that her husband did not bestow upon his son.

In spite of all this, Edward Masen Sr. was very proud of his son, who, as per Mrs. Grey's memories, was a very brilliant and talented young man. As well as being extremely handsome, Edward Masen Jr. was also an accomplished pianist. Because of his father's distance, the young Edward had a somewhat rebellious streak and wanted more than anything to join the army. To the relief of his mother, he wasn't allowed to join until he turned eighteen years of age, and his mother prayed every day for the end of World War I. However, despite all the prayers that Elizabeth Masen said, the latter wasn't able to foresee the tragedy that was to befall them.

The Masens fell victims to the Spanish Flu. Edward Masen Sr. was the first to die after contracting the flu. It had been established, from various accounts of people of the time and from historic records that Hermione had gotten her hands on as well as from the personal memories of Mrs. Grey, that Elizabeth Masen had ruined her own chance of living by tending to her son with uninterrupted ferociousness. She had been deemed the less infected, but as she tired herself with looking after her son, her health drastically deteriorated, and she eventually died on a bed next to her ill son.

However, it was the ultimate fate of the Masens' son that was the saddest. The day his mother died was also the day that Edward Anthony Masen Jr. disappeared. It appeared that he had enough strength to walk away from where they had been gathered in a makeshift hospital, which was a converted high school. There was no trace of him elsewhere. Either he died somewhere on the streets and that he'd been buried in the usual mass graves that were common at the time, or he had been able to survive. Anyway, there was no trace of him left, and it happened on the nineteenth of September 1918. On Hermione's birthday.

Mrs. Grey, who was one of the lucky few who were not infected, had gone the following day to inquire on her neighbours' fate and was saddened to hear the news of Mrs. Masen's death as well as the disappearance of Edward. She was the one that made the necessary burial arrangements for the Masens and was the one to whom all the personal belongings of the Masens that were in the hospital were bequeathed to, and that included the Masens' wedding ring that was now in Hermione's possession.

A relative of the Masens inherited the old estate, and every other paraphernalia that belonged to the Masens, but Mrs. Grey had kept the ring with her. She was the one who had, after all those years, finally parted with the old ring and gave it to an auction house on the one condition that the sale would benefit some charity.

That ring was finally what had gotten Hermione in the mess where she was now. That and her obsessive perfectionism. She finally knew what had happened to Edward Anthony Masen Jr.; he really did die.

In a twisted turn of events, Edward Anthony Masen Jr. had truly died and had been turned into a vampire. She really had only Harry to thank for sharing his bad luck with her, because the said vampire was also the one to whom she was now married, thanks to the magically binding contract that she'd carefully crafted. Hermione had not truly intended to go back in time to do what she had done. Nonetheless, she did it. She had, however, not foreseen this particular flaw: that she would end up being married to the only flaw in her best laid plan.

DARN!

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately, there is no Hermione/Edward interaction in this chapter but you'll understand the origin of the story. I'm not yet going into details on how Hermione went into the past since we'll get to that later on. The next chapter's title is "Meeting the Witch." So stay tuned as I promise some interesting Edward/Hermione time.


	3. Meeting the Witch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Disclaimer:** All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of Stephenie Meyer and JK Rowling. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
> 
> Beta'd by **Wandofhawthorn** and **Evelyn-shaye** of the **Project Team Beta**.

**Meeting the Witch**

It had been an odd first thirty minutes since he'd met his newly-found wife, and Edward, other than his unusual greeting, had still not decided what he should or should not say to Hermione.

The latter was currently examining the exquisite interior décor of the living room. Esme had really outdone herself on this project. The whole design of the cottage and the furniture purchased was graceful and elegant, trendy yet functional. Edward found that there was a simple balance between his world and the world he knew was Hermione's. After all, the moving pictures and odd objects here and there weren't easily available in the quality furniture catalogues that Esme read with genuine interest. Edward had yet to know how all of this had been made possible.

The only person that held the answers to his numerous questions was currently gazing at one of the pictures over the mantelpiece with a glass of alcohol. "Odgen's Old Firewhiskey," she'd muttered when she reached for the bottle that was on the side-table next to him. Edward had been standing in silence behind the lush Chesterfield couch, waiting, when he noticed something odd at the window. He automatically rushed to the window to see that it was snowing heavily outside. It had been one rare, hot, sunny summer day in Forks, which was the reason why the Cullen had stayed indoors. Now, however, it looked like they were back in winter. The harshest period of winter.

Edward could perfectly hear his family marveling at this sudden change of weather. The cobblestoned path that he'd followed from the main house to the cottage was almost completely covered. Edward was startled when he turned and saw Hermione standing next to him, watching the heavy snowfall outside.

"I'm sorry if I startled you," Hermione said sincerely. "I believe we have a lot to talk about, so we might as well start right now, don't you think?" Despite her sincerity, her voice was tentative.

"Yes, I do believe we have," Edward replied before he moved to sit on the Chesterfield couch, while Hermione sat on the small pub-styled chair that faced him. However, once he was seated, Edward found himself unable to kick-start the long overdue conversation, and so he found himself staring straight at Hermione.

"You better be very careful of what you say, Edward. Wizards and witches are an extremely dangerous kind, and even if you find yourself married to a witch, I don't doubt that she would attack you if she felt threatened," Edward heard Jasper warn him from the main house.

"You've encountered their kind before, Jasper?" Carlisle asked, always curious.

"Not now, Carlisle," Alice advised, interrupting any further discussion that would have surely followed.

_'Pity that,'_ Edward thought, because he was also very curious. Jasper had never been forthcoming about his past, and Edward wanted to know why Jasper believed witches and wizards were a dangerous sort. The witch in front of him didn't seem very dangerous, but when he considered everything that had already happened, Edward reasoned that there was some measure of truth in Jasper's warning.

He saw a flash of Jasper's memory in his head. It was of a couple of men wearing heavy cloaks and waving sticks from which real fire was bursting out, burning what appeared to be vampire remains. ' _Do you understand now, Edward?'_ Jasper sent the thought to him.

"Yes," he simply whispered, knowing that his empath brother would hear his answer.

Hermione blinked, ending the unofficial staring contest that had started between them. "I understand that all this—" she gestured to the surrounding area and pointed to the various moving pictures and odd objects that he'd picked up before, "—is rather difficult to digest." That was one  _big_  understatement. "So, we might as well start from the beginning?" She smiled encouragingly at him.

Edward found himself automatically responding with a smile of his own. "I would like to know how all of this started, actually."

"Well, it all starts with a simple ring. With this ring, actually." Hermione showed him the rather simple gold ring that she proudly wore on her ring finger.

Edward's eyes widened as he recognized his mother's wedding ring. It could have been a long-forgotten memory, but his mother's wedding ring was one of the only objects that Edward had been unable to find after he inherited his estate. He'd long since believed the ring to be lost. He'd remembered that loss when he had given Bella his mother's engagement ring.

"How … how did you find this?" Edward asked as he sat up straighter on the couch. "I thought it was lost."

"It was an object that I found on sale at —" Hermione started to say before she was interrupted by the phone ringing.

Edward glanced at Hermione, who shrugged in response before moving to pick up the phone. He answered the phone on the third ring. "Hello?" he tentatively said.

"Oh, good evening, Edward. How are you doing on your side of the world?" a cheery voice greeted over the phone.

Edward frowned. He did not recognize the voice. "We are doing fine," he replied before he asked, "But, erm … I'm sorry, but who is this?"

"It's Helen, Edward. Hermione's mother," the woman replied. Therefore, she was his mother in-law. "I guess you were too occupied during and after your honeymoon to give us a call, but I hadn't thought you would have already forgotten everyone else," the woman said suggestively.

"Hold on, woman," Edward thought. There was too much innuendo there for him to be comfortable.

"I don't need to hear this," Edward heard a male voice mutter over the phone. Probably Hermione's father.

"It's your mother," Edward said as he looked back at Hermione.

"My mother," Hermione muttered, surprised. It was as though she had not expected it. This was yet another mystery to be resolved later.

"So, how have you been keeping up, Edward?" Helen Granger's voice brought him to the present situation.

"Surprisingly well," he replied truthfully. It truly was surprising that he had not gone insane with all that was happening around him. His eyes, however, had not left Hermione, who still seemed surprised by the news that her mother was on the phone. "I think Hermione would like to talk to you," Edward said as he handed the cordless phone to Hermione over the coffee table.

"Thank you," Hermione said.

The latter did not speak immediately; she only listened to the voice of her mother—his new mother-in-law—who had to repeat 'Hello' multiple times before Hermione chose to reply. It sounded like she did not believe the voice on the phone. Hermione took a deep breath and said, "Hello, Mum."

"Oh, hello, honey," Mrs. Granger replied.

Edward watched, stupefied, as a tear rolled down Hermione's cheek.

"Hermione, sweetheart, are you still there?" Helen Granger asked as Hermione had again stayed silent.

"Yes, Mum. I'm right here," Hermione replied. More tears ran down her cheeks before Edward saw a bright smile appear on Hermione's face. "I'm right here," she repeated. "I'm just happy to hear your voir."

"Oh, pumpkin. I'm happy to hear from you, too," Helen replied.

Where normally an adult would have rolled their eyes or groaned at the endearment, Hermione's face lit up.

"She's feeling a whirlwind of emotions right now," he heard Jasper say. "It's like she hasn't heard her mother's voice in a long time. I detect a big undertone of sadness behind the current wave of happiness. I don't understand what that could mean."

Jasper was only confirming Edward's suspicions. He had been thinking the same thing, and Edward could only add this new discovery to the already long list of mysteries surrounding Hermione's arrival into his un-life.

"Is there something you need, Mum?" Hermione asked her mother.

"No, I wanted to know how you were doing after your honeymoon. Edward had us all intrigued when he said that the honeymoon was in a secret place, and you know … two weeks is a long time, even for a honeymoon," his mother-in-law replied.

"Erm," started Hermione, as her eyes flicked to look at him, "it was …"

"You don't need to give your mother any details, sweet." Edward heard a shuffle as Mr. Granger apparently took the phone from his wife.

"I'm still her mother, Richard!" Helen exclaimed. "And give me back the phone."

"Erm, nope. You've been beating around the bush, Helen," said Richard.

"Dad, what is it that you want to know?" Hermione asked with a sigh. The wide smile, however, was still there as she listened to her father's voice.

"We wanted to know when you'll be bringing our new grandson here. We'd like to get to know the newest addition to the family," answered his father-in-law.

Hermione's eyes again flicked to him before she answered, "I don't know. We," she emphasized, her eyes again darting to look at him, "only just got back with him, but if it's okay with the both of you, we'll be Flooing there this coming weekend."

"It's no problem, sweet. We'll make sure to clear our schedule for that, then," Mr. Granger said.

"I'm glad to hear that, Dad. Is there anything else you wanted to tell me?" Hermione asked.

She casually flicked a piece of wood—something Edward identified easily as her wand—at the cold logs placed in the hearth of the fireplace. Her strange wand had been previously placed on the coffee table in front of them. It occurred to Edward that the slightly bendy shape of the wand did not fit what he thought was the personality of Hermione. It looked like a bird's or an animal's talon in her hand. Even if had only been a simple flick of her wrist, the way Hermione held the wand in her right hand made it look like the slashing motions animals did to repel attacks.

Two balls of blue flames shot out from the tip of her wand onto the logs, and almost instantaneously, there was a crackling fire in the grate. Edward did not know how he managed not to bolt out of his seat. However, he still flinched away from the fireplace. Wizards and witches were even more dangerous than he thought if they were able to conjure fire so easily. He perfectly understood Jasper's warning then. His eyes darted from the fireplace to a surprised Hermione, and it was obvious she had seen his reaction. Her eyes flicked from him to the fireplace and back. A look of comprehension flashed on her face before it turned apologetic.

"I'm sorry, but it was getting rather cold here, and I don't know if this place has central heating," she told him, her hand covering the receiver. Then Edward saw, to his utter surprise, Hermione's eyes widen in horror as though she forgot something very important. "Merlin, Tom!" she exclaimed.

She was moving from her seat and had dropped the phone to go look after Tom. Edward caught the phone before it clattered on the thick red rug covering the seating area. Edward stopped Hermione before she could stand from her seat and wordlessly handed her back the phone before he disappeared in a blur of colours. The room at the end of the corridor was cold, and Edward understood the reason of Hermione's concern. Edward slowly approached the pastel blue painted crib that was in the room.

It was Edward's first time seeing a son that  _he'd_ adopted—eighty years in the past—back in 1926. There was no doubt for Edward that had he still been human, he would be suffering from the consequences of one massive headache. Luckily, there were still some perks in being a vampire. However, Edward still had many reasons to be confused and frustrated. There were mysterious reasons to Hermione and Tom springing up into his life, and he reasoned that the appearance of the cottage in the backyard of his Forks refuge was just the tip of the iceberg.

Tom was awake. Edward gazed down at the baby boy, who remained silent at his approach. He had coal black eyes that looked right back at Edward's golden ones. It was a little unnerving that he didn't cry to seek attention as he lay under a fluffy blue comforter. He had a tuft of jet-black hair and very pale skin that was slightly flushed from the ambient cold that had descended on the room with the sudden change of weather. All in all, Tom was a very beautiful little boy.

Edward smiled genuinely at the little baby looking up at him before he bent down to pick him up. He carefully balanced him in his arms, making sure that Tom was wrapped up warmly in the comforter; his cold arms would have not been welcomed in this situation. He smiled at the baffling fact that he was holding an 80-year-old baby. He walked back out of the room at a leisurely pace and followed the corridor to the staircase.

Hermione smiled as she saw him appear at the door of the living room. She still sat in the same place and had unknowingly ignored her father's repeated calls to attention. It was only when Edward sat back down on the Chesterfield couch that she snapped back to reality, apparently remembering that she had previously been talking to her parents. She surprised Edward, however, by moving to sit next to him on his left so she was able to see Tom's face.

"Can I call you back later, Dad?" Hermione asked as she talked again on the phone.

"Erm, yes of course," Richard replied hesitantly. "Is there something wrong, Hermione?"

"No, there's nothing wrong, Dad. It's just like I told you. We just got back here with Tom, and it's rather cold now. So, Edward …" she lifted her head to look at Edward, "… and I need to make sure that the baby is comfortable."

"Oh, of course. Well, we'll wait for your call, sweet, Mr. Granger replied.

"Dad?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, sweet," her father answered.

"Thanks for calling, Dad. It was very nice hearing your voice," Hermione returned with a smile.

"Likewise, sweet. Likewise. Oh, and before I forget, say hi to the family for me, okay?" her father added.

"Erm, yeah," Hermione answered uncertainly. Her eyes had again darted to look at Edward before adding, "Will do, Dad. I'll call you back later, okay?"

"Goodbye, sweet," Mr. Granger said before hanging up.

Hermione carefully placed the cordless phone back on its stand before she turned again to look at Tom and him, sitting next to her. She stayed silent as she observed him holding the baby boy that she'd gone into the past to adopt. Vampires didn't fidget like mortals normally did, but Edward was still a little unnerved under Hermione's steady gaze. He felt like he was being examined under a microscope, as though she was analysing something about him that he had yet to know himself. It felt like forever—not just a few minutes time—before Hermione's gaze shifted to the little boy cradled in his arms. Tom had fallen asleep. Edward smiled as he glanced down at the baby sleeping soundly in his arms before he looked back to Hermione.

She'd turned away from him and was opening the zipper on a small beaded purse that she had hidden in her right sock. It was an unassuming little accessory that Alice would have scoffed at. It shocked Edward that Hermione would be paranoid enough to hide such a small purse on her person. However, he was stunned speechless by what he saw just after that. Hermione's right arm had plunged completely into the small bag, and she was holding it open in her lap. Since she apparently wasn't able to find whatever she was rummaging for, she pulled out her arm.

To a certain degree, Edward was surprised that Hermione's right arm was still normal-looking. Subconsciously, he thought that it should be covered in warts and green looking, like the depiction of witches in fiction. It reminded Edward that the vampires in fiction were still depicted very differently from what he knew was real. He chortled at that.

The analogy made was quite peculiar between the two worlds to which Edward and Hermione belonged. Still, it was comforting in an odd sense that, despite their differences, there was a certain degree of similarity between them.

"What's so funny?" Hermione asked, having been surprised by his sudden chortle.

"Be careful of what you're gonna say, Edward," Jasper warned him again.

"It's just that I always thought that witches were different," Edward replied easily, a smile lingering on his face.

"What did you expect? A pointed hat, a broom and a grotesque nose to boot?" Hermione snorted. "I'm sorry to disappoint, but I really only wore the pointed hats at school since it was a part of the regular uniform. I don't own a broom and have no need of one, thank you very much. It's the hags' fault that witches were classically depicted with the grotesque noses, warts and sickly green skin," Hermione informed him, leveling him with a somewhat exasperated stare.

"I didn't mean it as an insult, in any way," Edward defended, a sincere expression on his face. "It's just that I can't believe how much pop culture got wrong about both of our worlds."

"True," Hermione agreed, picking up her wand again.

Edward observed cautiously as Hermione waved her wand and said clearly, " _Accio_ , documents."

Edward watched a manila folder pop out of the beaded bag. He noted that it was very similar to the one that Alice had produced a little earlier when informing the family of her mystifying discovery. It was physically impossible that such a big folder could easily get out of a bag that was at least five sizes smaller. She opened the folder on the coffee table and examined the documents it contained. Edward noted that these were the same documents that Alice had showed them earlier. There were, however, a few subtle differences. Like the dates and his name and signature. The dates were eighty years in the past, and where it had been Masen on Alice's documents, it was now Cullen and his current signature that appeared on the documents before him.

"How is that even possible?" Edward asked, bewildered.

"The timeline is correcting itself," Hermione answered before she turned, puzzled, to look at him. "What I'd actually like to know is how you are even aware of what has changed?"

"What do you mean?" he asked in turn.

"The timeline is correcting itself following my departure from the past, and you shouldn't have been aware of the differences. For you, it should have been a normal day in winter. To you, I would have just appeared as your wife and not as a stranger showing up in your house," Hermione replied, frowning.

"My sister's a Seer. She saw us discussing the discovery that I had been married in 1926 without my apparent knowledge, and that I had adopted with my wife a newborn son in the early days of 1927," Edward told her.

"Oh, I'm fed up with these pseudo-seers and their so-called Inner Eyes meddling with my business." Hermione sniffed, in disdain.

"Hey!" he heard Alice exclaim, followed by this family laughing at her expense. Edward difficultly refrained from saying that it was also his business and that was why Alice had again meddled into it.

Hermione surprised him when she suddenly turned to him and asked, "What sister?"

"What you would define as a coven, we call ourselves a family. We are seven including myself," Edward informed her.

"Seven!" Hermione repeated, in a stunned tone. "Talk about a package deal," she whispered.

"So, why go through all this planning to bring back this little one? What's so special about him?" Edward asked as he looked down at the baby boy still sleeping in his arms.

"Well, you see, Tom Riddle, umm, that is, our son—" He nodded telling her that he was following her explanation. He'd already accepted that. He—a vampire in 2006—was the adoptive father to a baby boy born in 1927.

"He's potentially Voldemort. Oh, yeah. You don't know who that is?" That was a given. "Well," she drawled, "take Hitler –"

"Hitler?" Edward whispered, his mind blank.

"– a dash of Charles Mason, a pinch of Jim Jones and then add magic and voilà!" Hermione continued, not hearing him. "So, you see, I had to do it! Yes?" Hermione finished in a flourish.

His left arm still wrapped securely around Tom, Edward pinched the bridge of his nose, taking in a long, unnecessary breath. Despite not feeling the need to breathe, it was always able to calm him and helped Edward put things into perspective. However, as he let out the unnecessary breath of air, Edward was still was lost. He looked back at Hermione with what he knew was a confused and frustrated look.

"From the looks of it, you seem like you want a more thorough explanation, don't you?" Hermione observed wisely.

He was going to exclaim, "You don't say," but he reasoned that it would have come out as slightly aggressive, and Edward kept in mind Jasper's warning.

"Yes, I believe that would be very much welcomed," Edward answered.

"Okay, where to start this story?" she asked herself, before she looked down at the baby boy sleeping, cradled safely in his arms. "It all starts with a little boy named Tom Marvolo Riddle …"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had particular difficulty with this chapter because I kept changing the dialogue because I found it to be quite strained, if not somewhat artificial. I think that's because Edward and Hermione don't know how to address the elephant in the room, which is their unusual union. I'm not entirely sure if I got it right here but at least, they got to talking together.


	4. Understanding Empathy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of Stephenie Meyer and JK Rowling. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
> 
> This chapter was beta'ed by ChocolateMango and hammondgirl from the Project Team Beta.

 

 

 

**Understanding Empathy**

 

 

 

_28th August 2005_

White rooms. White walls. White lighting. White sheets. White pillows. White curtains. White tiles. White uniforms. Everything was snow white. Everything in this facility was snow white except Hermione and her clothes. Like a sore thumb with her crimson red cardigan, her pencil gray skirt and the navy blue blouse she was wearing, she stood out in the bleak place. Every time she walked into the hospital, she hated it. It was all too plain. It needed color. The drab color was always suffocating to her. Even the name of the hospital contained the word white: White Hill Hospital.

"They've been doing quite good these past days and were wondering if you'd stopped visiting," the jovial nurse said, breaking Hermione from her inner musings.

"I've been out of the country," Hermione simply answered, as she looked down and stared at the nurse's shoes. Those were white also.

"Oh, that's so lovely. How was your trip?" the nurse asked, obviously fishing for fresh gossip to share with her colleagues later.

Hermione didn't answer. She had reached her destination. Like everything in his hospital, the double doors were also painted white. It was quite unremarkable except for the small plaque on the right side with black lettering that bore the words: THE PERMANENT RESIDENTS WARD.

Dismissing the nurse, Hermione pushed the doors open. There were eight beds in the ward, five of them being occupied. She walked confidently to the furthest corner of the room where twin figures were staring out the tiny window. Like every time she came for a visit, Hermione always found them at the same place.

Hermione's parents turned at the sound of the approaching footfalls.

It was entirely Hermione's fault that her parents were permanent residents of this ward at White Hill Hospital. It was one of the only times in her life that Hermione regretted being such a perfectionist at heart. Even in her spell work.

She'd deliberately lied to her two best friends by telling them that her parents were hiding in Australia. Instead of being Down-Under, Hermione had sent them to live across the Pond in the state of Maine, on the Atlantic coast of USA. It wasn't that she did not trust those two, she'd trust them with her very life. But Hermione reasoned that less there were people who knew the real location of her parents, the latter would be safer. But the little white lie on her parents' new country of residence wasn't the worst she'd done.

When Hermione had erased herself from her parents' memories and implanted the false twin identities of Wendell and Monica Wilkins instead, the spell used was not a simple Obliviate, like what she'd made Harry and Ron believe. True, in essence, it was still an Obliviation charm, but a variation of it. It was just a bit more advanced and of Hermione's own making. She'd deliberately modified the spell to better hide the identities of her parents. It was a progressive spell. Something that became more potent with time as Wendell and Monica Wilkins interacted with more and more people under those fake identities.

Therefore, when Hermione had been able to track her parents where she'd sent them to hide, the counter-curse backfired. After the Final Battle at Hogwarts was won by the Light side, she was going to look for her parents right away, but the devastation left by Voldemort and his regime had wreaked havoc in the country. Following the final demise of their leader, quite a few Death Eaters ran amok and sought revenge on families that had been instrumental in their defeat. Thus, instead of collecting her parents right away, Hermione participated in the pacification of the Wizarding World by tracking down the renegade Death Eaters with Harry and Ron as well as the surviving members of Dumbledore's Army. It had been hard; it took two more years before the last Death Eaters were rounded up, and by then, the damage had already been done.

Her parents, Richard and Helen Granger, had lived under the false identities of Wendell and Monica Wilkins for some three years. Those fake identities had become so well ingrained in her parents' minds that when she lifted the spell off of them, the two pairs of conflicting identities had gotten badly messed up. This was the reason why the Grangers were permanent residents of this mental facility. In a strange way, Hermione found herself in the same situation as Neville Longbottom. Her parents did not remember their daughter or anything else from their former lives, nor their fake ones for that matter.

White Hill Hospital wasn't a wizarding hospital, it was a muggle one. After the reversal of the memory spell on her parents had gone awry, Hermione had sought medical advice from a wizard hospital in Salem, Massachusetts. The healers had only confirmed what she had already discovered. It was a form of memory degeneration, a mixture of short-term memory loss and Alzheimer's. Her parents had no memory of their past lives, and everything that Hermione had told them was either forgotten the following moment or the following day.

Since there wasn't much that the healers could do for her parents, with a few little white lies and some Confundus charms, Hermione had arranged their placement at White Hill. At least there, they wouldn't be regarded as freaks by the personnel of St Mungo's.

"Oh, hello dear. Are you our new doctor?" asked her mother, rather innocently. Her mother's brown curls, that Hermione had inherited, were giving off a fiery colour due to the natural light coming from the window behind her.

"Good morning," she replied. "No, I'm not a doctor."

It was quite a lie because if it hadn't been for her parents, Hermione would never have chosen her actual career. She was after all a Mind Healer and had even progressed to be the Head Mediwitch of the Spell Damage Department. She was thus able to do her own research on whatever was her fancy. It wasn't a secret, however, that Hermione researched extensively on memory-related afflictions. It was, after all, a personal issue.

"So, can we help you?" asked her father.

It was still strange. The doctors had told her that even though they had no recollection of being married or of having been at one point in time either Richard and Helen Granger or Wendell and Monica Wilkins, they still subconsciously stayed together. It was that one little thing that gave Hermione hope. The hope that one day her parents would be able to make a full recovery.

"I am just visiting this facility and I wanted to know how you were feeling. Are you missing anything here or do you feel as if something is missing?" asked Hermione, as she sat down on the empty chair nearest to her dad's bed.

"Are you sure you're not some kind of doctor, missy?" asked her father, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Yes, I'm quite sure, sir," replied Hermione, with a small smile.

It was refreshing to note that her dad, memory-loss or not, was still as astute as ever. They continued talking for over an hour until the visiting hours were over. Slowly walking outside and turning towards the white painted building, Hermione had only one recurring thought before she Dissaparated. She now had a profound aversion for the colour white.

It was lucky for her that it was Friday afternoon and Hermione had the weekend ahead of her. Sitting still on her bed in her lonely flat, Hermione glanced around dazedly. Like every time Hermione came back from White Hill Hospital, she felt exhausted after leaving the dreaded place and a little bit more lost than ever. And like each time, Hermione broke down crying. She cried clutching her pillow until she fell asleep from exhaustion.

The next morning, Hermione stiffly sat in her living room nursing a mug of hot cocoa as she listened to the falling rain. She'd gotten back from Chicago only the day before and only had time for a quick shower before she up and left for work. Month-long vacation be damned. Hermione was a workaholic through and through. Anyway, her trip to the US had been shorter than expected due to her taking a leaf from Rita Skeeter's unofficial handbook.

So, her bags were still unpacked and were in the same place where she'd left them, on the coffee table. Hermione's eyes fixed on them, her cooling mug of cocoa forgotten. She stayed like that for long minutes lost in thought before suddenly grabbing one of her bags and opening it. The bag did not contain that many things anyway. From it, she pulled out a manila folder. She opened the folder and laid out the two different items that she'd recovered from it; a yellowed photograph and two aged documents.

The old Mrs. Grey, from whom she received the two items, had held onto these for a long time. Mrs. Grey had told her that she gone to the same school as her neighbour, Edward Anthony Masen, and that she'd been only one year below him. From what Hermione could gather from listening to the old lady, Mrs. Grey had had a severe crush on Edward Masen and it was apparent that it was also the case for a great majority of the female population of the school. Joan, that was Mrs. Grey first name, recounted how handsome Edward had been. Mrs. Grey giggled when she remembered how Edward's long piano fingers had been the object of her dreamy fantasies.

As she examined the old photograph, Hermione had to agree with Joan's observations; Edward Anthony Masen had certainly been dreamy. Even in the photo in her hands, yellowed with the passing of time, Hermione could entirely understand how almost half of the female population of Edward's old school developed a crush on him.

It was an old picture of the Masen family. Hermione's attention was instantly drawn to youngest member. Mrs. Grey had told her that Edward had fiery copper hair that he used to muss up from his hands constantly roaming in it. The picture seemed like it had been taken the Christmas preceding the untimely demise of the Masen family. The family had posed in front of a Christmas tree. His eyes, green gems according to Mrs. Grey, still remained vibrant and stood out despite it being a white and black and white picture. His eyes were framed with long, thick lashes. He had full lips, a strong nose, high cheekbones, and a perfect square jaw.

Yes, Hermione could easily imagine how teenage school girls could develop a crush on Edward Masen.

She switched her gaze from the picture to the old documents. Here, before her very eyes, were other pieces of the tragic story of Edward Masen. These were official documents signed by him acknowledging the deaths of his parents and authorizing their burials in their family parcel at an old cemetery near his house. One document for each. There were traces of blood along one edge, apparently from a paper cut; his finger had after run the length of the documents and there were even twin spots of blood colouring the same place as his signature on the two documents. The date of the nineteenth of September of 1918 stood out like a sharp contrast in black on the yellowed pieces of paper.

It absolutely did not matter to Hermione that there was nothing she could have done to prevent what had already happened. In her mind, in an oddly twisted way, Hermione could not stop herself from making a parallel between Edward Masen's story and her own story. Like him, she'd had to make a very difficult decision at the same tender age of seventeen; hers being the enactment of her contingency plan for her parents and his being the arrangements for his parents' burials. True, the two decisions didn't yield the same results, but it was still her twisted way of seeing parallels where they did not exist.

She looked again at the picture of the Masen family and again her gaze fixed on Edward's face. Her eyes fell on the ring that she'd acquired thanks to Harry. It seemed that the auction had been held an eternity ago. She was surprised when she saw a tear fall into her lap but didn't do anything to stem the following tears. Lifting her eyes again to stare at the haunting eyes of Edward Masen, Hermione uttered only one sincere word.

"Sorry."

 

 


	5. Watching Emmett's Triumph

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of Stephenie Meyer and JK Rowling. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Beta'd by 2Shaes and Jcat5507 of the Project Team Beta.

**Watching Emmett's Triumph**

 

“So, let me get this straight,” Emmett began later that night. “Edward and his new, lovely, witchy, wifey, Hermione, have now adopted a little boy who could potentially turn out as a new version of Hitler although this one could wreak greater havoc because of his over-the-top hocus-pocus abilities? A Wizard-Hitler, version 2K? Did I get everything right?” asked Emmett.

 

Edward hadn't moved from the cottage and as always, the Cullens were holding a family meeting but this time, they had convened in Edward's new house. After sharing a strange story with Edward about Tom and calling back her parents as she'd promised earlier, Hermione, probably exhausted from eighty years of time-travelling, had retired for the night.

 

“Yes, that's about it,” Edward simply answered.

 

To acknowledge what he'd just heard as real made it even more true to Edward's ears. His newly adopted son, Tom, could basicallt turn out being a megalomaniac mass-murderer and his wife was a time-travelling witch. The little boy was still sleeping soundly in his arms, Esme and Rosalie hovering over his shoulder.

 

“And to think that we believed your love life with Bella to be complicated before, this – ” Emmett waved his hand at the living room they were now gathered in, “ – is clearly only the tip of the iceberg!“

 

Edward whole-heartedly agreed with Emmett's observation. After all, it wasn't a regular occurrence for vampires to fall in love with their singers and even rarer for vampires to consider marrying their singer. It was a safe bet—at least to Edward—that a witch with a vampire was an almost unknown occurrence. It was also a testament to how strange and eventful the afternoon had turned out to be that Edward had had no single thought of Bella.

 

What about her then? Would she like the rest of the world believe that Edward and Hermione were a happily newlywed couple?

 

“Emmett is right,” Carlisle remarked, interrupting his thoughts.

 

“Well, that's the first time I've heard that one,” commented Alice.

 

“Hey!” exclaimed Emmett.

 

"Not now," interrupted Esme.

 

"And, please be quiet," hushed Rosalie, gesturing loudly at the sleeping baby amongst the vampires.

 

“Yes, children,“ agreed Carlisle. “Now is not the time to argue. We need to understand.”

 

“Well, she didn't tell us that much,“ said Rosalie. “She only told us the insane story of the young Tom and that is unbelievable.”

 

"I do believe there's some a big logic behind all of this actually," intervened Jasper.

 

“You can't actually believe that a young boy could be born evil, Jasper?“ asked Esme. At the empath's contemplative look, Esme shook her head vehemently in disagreement. “From the sound of it, it's as if Tom was born evil and that's preposterous. It's our choices and experiences that shape our future selves. No child is ever born evil.”

 

"So, if we follow Esme's logic," began Emmett, "that would mean that Edward wasn't born with a broom stick buried deep up his ass but he only became like that later in life and when he became a vampire, he was forever stuck like that."

 

"Absolutely hilarious, Emmett," growled Edward lowly while the rest of the family snickered or chuckled at his expense.

 

"Emmett!" near-shouted Carlisle. "Now is not the time for antagonising your brother."

 

"But, it's just so easy," taunted Emmett, grinning at the glare Edward addressed him.

 

“I agree,” Rosalie said suddenly. At the family's blank look, she elaborated, "I'm not talking about Emmett's comment of Edward being deeply stuck-up, we all know that it's a universal truth."

 

Unsurprisingly, new snickers and chuckles followed.

 

"I was talking about Esme's remark. No one is born evil," continued Rosalie.

 

"Well, they would be evil if they were like the Antichrist. Just think of that terrifying Damien in The Omen or the creepy baby in Rosemary's baby," supplied Emmett.

 

"Fiction, Emmett! That's fiction!" interjected Carlisle.

 

"Anyway," continued an exasperated Rosalie. "What I can gather from Hermione's story is that Tom being the fruit of an artificial love created by a love potion—whatever that is—might be one of the reasons why he would be unable to feel it."

 

"I agree,“ added Jasper, “I actually think that story is quite believable and from my perspective, what I understand is that she wants to give Tom a chance. And even from what was left unsaid, we're still able to pick up some clues."

 

The Cullen matriarch had finally sat down next to Edward on the Chesterfield couch and at her unvoiced question, Edward gently handled her Tom. That was all it took for Rosalie and Alice to start gushing on the cuteness of their nephew as they crowded Esme and Edward prompting the latter to leave the couch to the ladies.

 

"What clues are you talking about, Jasper?" asked Emmett.

 

"You're thinking of Hermione's strange reaction to hearing her parents' voice?" asked Carlisle.

 

"Yes, exactly," agreed Jasper. "To answer Emmett's question, I've noted an undercurrent of sadness mixed with overwhelming happiness felt by Hermione when she talked to her parents earlier. That was confusing. It was as if she wasn't expecting it."

 

"From what I've observed –" began Edward.

 

"Stared-transfixed at, that's more like you," snidely coughed Emmett.

 

"– it really felt like it, continued Edward, ignoring Emmett. "Tears were falling down her eyes while she talked to her parents. That little element is important to the whole story but how it all fits into the bigger picture, I have strictly no idea."

 

"Maybe, her parents died when she was younger and that's why she didn't expect to hear from them," suggested Emmett.

 

"It's a possibility,' said Alice thoughtfully. "Erm, what was the ring she showed you when you asked her how it all started?"

 

"It was my mother's wedding ring. I was never able to recover it after her death and I believed to be lost," answered Edward.

 

"How can the ring be the catalyst to all this?" asked Rosalie.

 

"We already know that Hermione's birthday is the nineteenth September and Edward disappearance happened on the same date in 1918 and thought that was why she interested herself in your story, Edward," said Alice.

 

"It could not have been such a random thing. She probably found the ring first and wanted to discover the story behind that," added Jasper.

 

"That's a definitive possibility," concluded Carlisle.

 

"It's really a big puzzle but we still don't understand how it all fits in," said Rosalie.

 

"All shall be revealed in due time, Rosalie –"

 

"Said the Cullen patriarch in a cryptic voice," teasingly whispered Emmett, earning smiles from the family members.

 

"We only need to exercise patience, continued Carlisle, in an exasperated voice. "I'm curious as to how you've actually interacted with wizards before, Jasper."

 

"True, I'd like to know that also," said Edward.

 

"It was after the wars with Maria and the newborn covens. It was just after Peter and Char came for me. A couple of vampire hunters had been despatched there due to the high numbers of vampires in the area. At one point, they were tailing us but we gave them the slip. The nomads who'd thought they were easy prey were brutally brought back to reality. The three of us watched how quickly they were turned into piles of ashes after the wizards hit them with spells. What was even more remarkable and terrifying was that the vampires weren't able to approach the hunters. With only a few words and flicks of their wands, the newborns were burned on the spot." Jasper told them this old story.

 

Edward remembered how easily and gracefully Hermione had lit a fire in the grate without uttering a single word and he shared it with his family.

 

"That's what would make Hermione even more dangerous. She has greater control over her magic than the ones I've met if she's able to do that as effortlessly as Edward says," warned Jasper.

 

"So, what do we do?" asked Rosalie.

 

"Like Carlisle said, we'll just be patient," replied Esme.

 

Emmett, who'd been looking around, grinned suddenly. Edward read his mind and looked up interested.

 

"A wedding video?" asked Edward.

 

"Yeah, and not just any wedding video, it's yours, Edward," answered Emmett.

 

"This might be helpful," interjected Jasper. "We'll be able to see what's the perception people have of your couple in this reality."

 

"Plus, it will be fun," added Emmett, grinning from ear to ear.

 

"Can't you be serious five minutes, Emmett?" grumbled Rosalie.

 

"Oh, Rosie," started Emmett, in a patronising tone, "it's always better on the funny side.

 

He moved around the gathered family to the impressive television screen hidden behind a wooden screen.

 

The screen lit up and showed the date of the twenty-first of December 2006 showed up on the screen.

 

"Hold on!" exclaimed Emmett, as he pressed the pause button. "How come the wedding's in December when we're still in August?"

 

"Have you taken a look at the weather, Emmett?" asked Rosalie. "We're in winter!"

 

"But, how?" Emmett urged, in turn.

 

"Hermione did say samething about the timeline adjusting itself, didn't she?" questioned Carlisle. "It's possible that for this readjusting that we've also moved forward in time."

 

"It's plausible," agreed Edward. He glanced around the living room in search of a calendar and wasn't surprised by the date he read. "It's the fourth of Januay 2007," he shared.

 

"Okay, now that we've established what the date is, can we continue viewing this video?" asked Alice.

 

His curiosity satisfied for now, Emmett pressed the play button and sat down.

 

"Welcome to the event of the decade; the wedding of my darling little bother, oops... sorry, I meant the wedding of my darling little brother; Edward." Emmett's loud voice was heard before his grinning face was seen on-screen.

 

"Oh, this is gonna be epic," said the real Emmett, an identical grin on his face.

 

"So," drawled Emmett, "my little brother Edward Cullen is finally tying the knot and the lucky girl who's managed to hold his attention long enough is the sassy British witch; Hermione Granger. I'm Emmett Cullen and I'll be your host for today."

 

"Really, Emmett!" Jasper's voice was heard then. "Don't you think you're overdoing it?"

 

"Don't mind the cameraman, folks," said Alternate-Emmett. "This is big time news. Edward had finally decided to end his eighty-plus years bachelorship."

 

"I've got other things to do right now and that's where the cameraman is gonna quit," grumbled Alternate-Jasper, as the camera was dumped into Alternate-Emmett's arms.

 

"What? No!" uttered Alternate-Emmett, surprised. "You can't quit. Get back here, Jasper!"

 

"Well, I'm not wrong," defended Jasper.

 

"Never mind that, folks. You know how it is. Cheap labor!" said Alternate-Emmett.

 

Simultaneous slaps were heard; one in the living-room where the Cullens were congregated and the other on the television. The two Jaspers; the on-screen and off-screen had exacted vengeance on their Emmetts by slapping their latters behind.

 

"Hey!" exclaimed the two Emmetts, in sync.

 

"You're the one that started it," said the two Jaspers, also in sync.

 

"Well, at least we know that the two of you haven't changed," deadpanned Alice, smirking.

 

"Okay, I shall do this myself," said Alternate-Emmett. "Anyway, today's the twenty-first of December 2006 –"

 

"Do you give the time also?' asked an on-screen Alice, as she waltzed by Emmett.

 

"Har, har, har. Very funny," drolled Alternate-Emmett. "Anyway, let's go see how the future bride is doing for now. For those who don't know the love story behind how Edward and Hermione actually became Edward plus Hermione, I'll be glad to share the story with you."

 

"Well at least, you're being useful, Emmett," snipped Rosalie.

 

"Rosalie, not now!" warned Esme.

 

Esme was still admiring the little baby in her arms. From reading her mother figure's thoughts, Edward could still hear her marvelling at the novelty of having a grandson technically older than her.

 

"So," Alternate-Emmett's voice was heard again as the latter moved around the Cullen mansion, "It's a very strange story. An unexpected coincidence, actually. Hermione's ex-boyfriend—Cedric—was going out with Edward's ex-girlfriend –

 

Edward's head snapped up thinking of Bella but he was completely disabused and surprised by what he heard after.

 

"Leah," finished Alternate-Emmett.

 

"The she-dog?" snarled Rosalie.

 

"That was unexpected," said Carlisle.

 

The family had turned to look at Edward as though expecting an explanation.

 

"This," Edward waved a hand at the paused video, "never happened," he reminded his family.

 

"Yet, as fucked-up as it is," started Emmett, ignoring Esme's chastising, "it would have made sense for Edward and Leah together. Opposites do attract," he wisely commented.

 

He was surpised the collective nods of approval from his family and Edward couldn't help himself from wondering if he'd really missed an opporunity with Leah.

 

"However, the two love-birds of the day weren't even aware of that fact until after they began dating. As a matter of fact, it was through our respective parents that the two met." Alternate-Emmett grinned ominously before saying, "Through a setup blind date."

 

Hilarity followed logically.

 

"To our parents' delights," continued Alternate-Emmett, "Hermione and Edward hit off quickly. Thus, after four long years of courtship—Edward insists on the courtship term, he's old fashioned like that—Edward finally decides to pop the question and here we are one year later. It was inevitable as we all knew the moment we first saw the two together that it was a match made in heaven. Well, of course, let's render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God that which is God's. A match made by our loving parents."

 

"So, five years of courtship," teased Alice. "That's a long time by our standards."

 

They watched the rest of the video commenting here and there.

 

"This is really gonna be useful and helpful for future references. We'll know how people are gonna react around the two of you," said Jasper, as they watched Hermione dancing with her father.

 

"Yeah," admitted Edward, "it's just strange to watch this part of a life that I haven't lived."

 

"True," agreed Emmett. "But, technically, if Alice hadn't had this vision, all this would have been our reality. This –" he waved at the living room and the wedding video still playing, "– would have been your only reality. You wouldn't have known a thing if not for that. Unless, of course, Hermione told you later on."

 

"This must really be an alternate reality because what Emmett's saying is really making sense," joked Rosalie.

 

"Come on, babe. I'm just sharing what I know and seen on those reality shows," defended Emmett.

 

Edward was however fascinated by the look of pure adoration and love on his alternate's face when he watched Hermione; when she walked towards his standing alternate under a white flowered archway, when she said 'Yes, I do' or when they danced together during their reception.

 

He was jealous of his alternate's insouciance. A big part of him actually wished Alice hadn't had that vision.

 

Later, in the morning, when Hermione had woken up and was nursing a strong mug of coffee and his family had returned to the main house, she said that she wished there was something that could help her understand their new timeline.

 

"I have just the thing for that," said Edward, with a smirk.

 

"Welcome to the event of the decade; the wedding of my darling little bother, oops... sorry, I meant the wedding of my darling little brother; Edward. So, my little brother Edward Cullen is finally tying the knot and the lucky girl who's managed to hold his attention long enough is the sassy British witch; Hermione Granger. I'm Emmett Cullen and I'll be your host for today."" Emmett's loud voice was again heard as he replayed the video.

 

"I'm definitely gonna like that one," uttered Hermione, fascinated by the video.

 

"Woohoo!" cheered Emmett. "She likes me better than you, Alice," he taunted at the Seer.

 

**Author's Note:**

> A spin of mine of the classic time-travel plot. Originally, this was supposed to be a Cedric/Hermione piece but I've kept thinking that it could make something even more interesting and funny with an Edward/Hermione plot. 
> 
> Depending on the response, I'll be continuing this story or change it back to the original plot of a Cedric/Hermione that was planned. So, do not hesitate to give your feedback on this little piece, I'll be waiting eagerly for that. Constructive criticism is of course most welcome.
> 
>  
> 
> Ludo


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